Philippines Inflation

Philippines: Inflation inches up in February

In February, consumer prices rose 0.1% over the previous month, coming in below January’s 0.4% rise. February’s increase reflects that higher prices for housing, electricity, gas and other fuels as well as transport slightly offset lower prices for food items.

Annual inflation inched up from January’s 2.4%, which had marked the lowest level in 17 months, to 2.5% in February. Meanwhile, annual average inflation, which is the reference rate used by the Central Bank as a guide for monetary policy, in February stood at 3.9%, which was a bit down from January’s 4.0% and marked a seven-month low. Thus, average inflation in February rested just slightly below the upper bound of the Central Bank’s target range.

The monthly core inflation index, which excludes volatile items such as food and oil, in February rose 0.4% over the previous month, coming in below January’s 0.6% rise. Finally, annual core inflation rose from January’s 2.2% to 2.5% in February.

The Central Bank’s target inflation rate is 3.0% plus/minus 1.0 percentage point for 2015 and 2016. FocusEconomics Consensus Forecast panelists expect annual inflation to average 3.1% in 2015, which is down 0.2 percentage points from last month’s projection. For 2016, panelists see average inflation of 3.4%.

Philippine exports contracted in November, after 12 months of expansions, mainly on the back of plummeting demand from Japan and a notable decrease in overseas orders to the United States and China, which more than offset stronger demand from Hong Kong and Singapore.